Sanitary drinking-fountain.



L. T. HAWS.

- SANITARY DRINKING FOUNTAIN. APPucATmu mtoauqu. 1.91s.

1 171,5 1?. Pa nted Feb. 15, 1916.

WITNESS INVEIVTUR ATTORNEY LUTHER T. HAWS, 0F BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA.

SANITARY DRINKING-FOUNTAIN.

Application filed August 24, 1915.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, LUTHER T. HAws, a citizen of the United States,residing at Berkeley, in the county of Alameda and State of California,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SanitaryDrinking-Fountains, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of drinking-fountains in which theconstruction and operation necessitate a hygienic use. In such fountainsthere are certain recognized features, such, for example, as contactpreventive means, so that the user touches nothing but the flowingstream; and also there are constructive shapes and measures for keepingall surfaces of possible undesirable contact, clean, well washed andthoroughly drained. A common type of these sanitary fountains comprisesa cock controlled water-supply pipe, a water delivery pipe fitted withsome form or charac ter of mouth guard, and a water-receiving drain-cupor bowl inclosing or enveloping the delivery pipe. Heretofore both themouth guard and the drain cup have been made of relatively hardmaterial, such as metal or porcelain. This construction, while wellsuited for most situations, is not adapted or others, as, for example,for moving vehicles, such as cars, trains and boats, where, due to themotion, the user is unsteady; or for hospitals and the like where theinstability of the user is due to his own infirmity; or for any locationin which, for any reason, there may be a want of steadiness in the user.In any of these cases injury may result by contact with hard surfaces ofthe drain cup or mouth-guard.

It is the object of my invention to provide against such injury, andthereby adapt my drinking fountain for the situations suggested. Thisobject I attain, in essence, by making the drain-cup of relatively softor yielding material, preferably soft rubber; and by making also, ifdesired, the mouth guard of similar relatively soft material; and as theemployment of these materials requires a novel construction, arrangementand combination of parts, my invention consists in the novel sanitarydrinking-fountain which I shall now fully describe by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation, partly insection, of my fountain. Fig. 2 is an elevation of Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

Serial No. 47,118.

the same, partly broken, taken at right angles to Fig. 1.

1 is the water supply pipe, in which is included the shell 2 of thecontrolling valve or cock, which ishere shown as operated by apush-button 3.

t is the drain cup. This is made of soft, yielding material; inpractice, of soft rubber. The base of rigidly clamped between an outerplate 5 and an inner plate 6, and said plates are themselves clampedbetween the upper end of a stem portion 7 of the valve shell 2 and aflange or collar 8 on the delivery-pipe 9. The lower end of the deliverypipe passes down through both clamp plates 5 and 6, and through theintervening base-center of the cup 4, and said end is exteriorlythreaded, as shown, to receive and engage the interiorly threaded stem 7of the valve shell 2. When, therefore, the two threaded portions arescrewed home all the parts are firmly held together in operativerelation, the rubber cup 4 being extensively clamped and so held as tobe proof against dislodgment by tearing out, as would be liable to occurif it were held by a relatively small annular surface or edge, and weresubjected to the sudden strain of a lurching user grabbing hold of it tosteady himself.

10 is the mouth guard fitted upon the delivery pipe 9. This guard hasthe exit opening 11 for the issuing stream. The guard may be of anyshape, straight or enlarged, but preferably spheroidal or of othercurved surface, and large enough to discourage the user from taking itinto his mouth. In prac tice I prefer to make this mouth-guard also ofsoft yielding material, say, of rubber. The cup 4 is fitted with a drainsection 12 which is threaded to receive any fitting according to thedirection which it is most convenient for the waste to take. It will nowbe seen that with these relatively soft surfaces, injury from contactwill not follow, and the device is, thus, well suited for places,especially railway cars, where such contact is likely to take place. Atthe same time a simple, durable and eflicient fountain is provided,which is clean and can be easily kept so.

1. A sanitary drinking fountain comprising a cock-controlled supply pipehaving a threaded stem; a delivery pipe having a threaded lower endadapted to engage the the cup is extensively and threaded stem of thesupply pipe, and having a collar above said loWerend;- a draincup ofyielding material enveloping the delivery pipe; an outer clamp plateunder the base of said drain cup and bearing on the upper end of thesupply pipe stern;- and an inner clamp plate on the upper surface of thebase of the drain-cup and bearing under the collar of the delivery pipe.

2. A sanitary drinking fountain comprising a cock-controlled supply pipehaving a threaded stem; a delivery pipe having a threaded lower endadapted to engage the threaded stem of the supply pipe, and having acollar above said lower end; a mouthguard of yielding material carriedby the delivery-pipe; a drain-cup of yielding material enveloping themouth-guard; an outer clamp plate under the base of said drain cup andbearing on the upper end of the supply pipe stem; and an inner clampplate LUTHER T. HAWS.

l/Vitnesses:

WM. F. BOOTH, D. B. RICHARDS.

Copies of this patent may be -)btained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner-of Patents.

' Washingtomb. C.

